Nonwoven webs formed of fibrous materials (“nonwovens”) and laminate webs formed of nonwovens laminated with other nonwovens and/or polymeric films, have been used as component materials in the manufacture of a number of products. Nonwovens such as those formed of polyethylene and/or polypropylene fibers can have cloth-like feel and mechanical strength characteristics, combined with desirable cost attributes, which make them useful in the manufacture of certain kinds of wearable articles. Thus, various types of polyethylene and/or polypropylene nonwovens are used in the manufacture of wearable articles such as disposable diapers.
In some examples of disposable diapers as well as other wearable articles, it may be desirable that a component web material be elastically extensible. Thus, a laminate web may be manufactured and include one or more layers of nonwoven to impart a cloth-like feel and/or mechanical strength attributes, and one or more elastomeric members, such as an elastomeric film layer, to impart elastic extensibility.
Some types of disposable baby diapers include side fastening members formed in part from a nonwoven and/or nonwoven laminate. In such examples, each of two fastening members may include an elastically extensible proximal portion attached to a rear waist region of the diaper, and a distal tab portion having an affixed fastener component such as a patch of hooks that constitutes a component of a hook-and-loop fastening system. Such an example may be designed to allow a caregiver who will apply the diaper to lay the diaper open on a surface and maneuver the rear waist region of the diaper to a suitable position beneath a reclining baby's bottom, wrap the front waist region of the diaper forward between the baby's legs and up over the front of the baby's lower torso, draw each fastening member from the rear waist region around a hip, and attach the distal portion of each fastening member to the front waist region via the fastener component, thereby forming a pant-like structure about the baby's lower torso. When such a fastening member includes a patch of hooks at its distal end, a front waist region of the diaper may include a landing zone, which may be a patch of material (the loop component) that is selected for its suitability for effective engagement by the hooks, and sufficient strength characteristics. Thus, upon engagement by the hooks with the landing zone, an attachment of the fastening member to the landing zone of sufficient strength to sustain forces resulting from the baby's movements, and satisfactorily hold the diaper on the baby, may be provided.
When in use, the configuration of fastening members of the exemplary type described above, as well as other members or components formed of nonwovens and/or laminates of nonwovens, may result in concentrations of forces and stresses in various portions thereof. For example, where a fastening member includes an extending tab portion formed of a separate material and bonded to a stretch laminate, and bears an affixed fastener component at a distal portion thereof, forces sustained and transferred through the fastener component may result in concentration of stresses in the material about bonds between the material forming the tab and the stretch laminate, and/or about the fastener component. In another example, a fastening member may taper or narrow from its proximal portion to its distal portion. Thus, when a caregiver tugs on the fastening member by its distal portion in order to apply the diaper to a baby, stresses may concentrate in the distal portion in areas of the material about the caregiver's grasp, or about a fastener component. Concentrations of stresses in materials in these examples, as well as in other examples, may in some in some circumstances be sufficient to initiate tearing or separation of materials. This may be undesirable because it may negatively affect the fit and/or performance of the product. It also may give rise to negative perceptions of quality on the part of the caregiver or other consumer.
In addition, fastening members having tabs of separate materials may be deemed in some circumstances to have an unsightly appearance, and may involve the added manufacturing steps required to affix tabs to stretch laminates.
Thus, in the interests of simplification, cost reduction, improved appearance and improved mechanical properties, alternative ways, for imparting needed features with added strength or reinforcement to fastening members, are desirable.